[Image: Rawson Wilderness / Facebook]
According to Western Cape Minister of Infrastructure, Tertuis Simmers, the Western Cape Department of Infrastructure (DoI) is making good progress in completing permanent repairs to the Montagu Pass.
In October 2024, the Western Cape Government received additional funding through the National Disaster Management Grant which allowed them to initiate the dedicated Western Cape Government Department of Infrastructure Flood Damage Repairs and Response Strategy across the worst-hit areas in the province – namely in the Garden Route, Overberg and Cape Winelands districts.
As part of this, the engineering firm Zutari was appointed to provide services for the repairs to the Montagu Pass and on-site assessments started in November 2024. The project is subject to strict deadlines and processes to comply with national government funding conditions, and between November 2024 and February 2025, key stakeholders, including business representatives and heritage agencies, were involved to ensure everything was running on time.
“While the damage the road suffered is significant, the extended closure has given our team time to do a comprehensive analysis. The team responsible for the hydrological assessment determined that five of the 22 stormwater catchment areas are under capacity and that this is one of the main causes of significant flood damage to the pass, with one such structure causing a full-width break.”
At the end of February 2025, the design scope of the project was approved. This is a crucial step because it allows the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) environmental application process to commence. This process is still underway.
The surveys that were received in early March 2025 are being processed to inform the detailed engineering design. This design is crucial to the NEMA environmental application which the department aims to submit to the applicable authorities by the end of March 2025. Given that the Montagu Pass is a heritage site, this may take between six and eight months and depends on the public participation and appeals process, which may delay matters.
If all goes according to plan without delays, the NEMA and other environmental authorisations should be received by late September 2025. This means that construction could begin in late October 2025.
The current project scope includes the cleaning of existing drainage structures, additional drainage structures, cleaning of the existing side drains, repairing/re-instating side drains, re-graveling of the roadway, blading of the existing roadway as well as repair/reconstruction of stone walls.
[Source: westerncape.gov]
